James Wood, one of the flatmates of missing Queensland teen Pheobe Bishop, claimed he knew nothing about her whereabouts in leaked text messages sent just hours after her disappearance.
The 17-year-old teenager has been missing for eleven days. She was last seen on May 15, leaving a home in Gin Gin, Australia, near Bundaberg, where she had been living with Wood and his partner, Tanika Bromley.
The couple is believed to have driven Bishop to Bundaberg Airport, where she was scheduled to board an 8:30 a.m. flight to Brisbane, followed by another flight to Perth to visit her boyfriend.
A series of text messages sent by one of Pheobe Bishop’s flatmates after she vanished have been revealed
Image credits: Kylie Johnson/Facebook
However, CCTV footage indicates she never entered the airport.
It’s unclear why the teenager was living at the Gin Gin residence with the couple, but her recent social media posts suggest she had fallen out with her mother and refused to return home.
In text messages obtained by the Daily Mail Australia, one of Wood’s friends texted him after Bishop was reported missing to ask him about the case.
“Hey hey how are you,” asked the friend on May 16 at 9.45pm.
“Yeah been better ayy darlz how bout you?” Wood texted back the next day.
“That’s not good any word on Pheobe at all?” the friend asked.
“No nothing atm, but we are just printing up more flyers to go around and stick up every where and keep searching and hope she makes contact with someone ayy,” Wood replied.
Pheobe Bishop was last seen near Bundaberg Airport in southern Queensland on May 15
“Surely the airport has footage,” the friend wrote, sharing that they had their “fingers crossed” for the teen.
Wood replied the next morning, revealing that he had been questioned by police about Bishop.
He wrote: “I don’t know ayy but how’s this cause I was one of the last people to see her alive cops basically asked me if I did her in or hurt her at all ayy.
“I was like WTF, so yeah that’s nice to know that purely because I’m a male and look the way I do,” he said of the interrogation.
The teen lived with James Wood and Tanika Bromley after reportedly falling out with her mother
Wood was questioned by police but was released without charges. On social media, he offered a reward to anyone who could provide information about Bishop’s whereabouts.
“Any little bit of information can help, please if you know something, please contact her family.
“If you know where she is and can give her family a legit address to bring her home or make contact with her, you can (have) my fishing boat as a reward, 15 ft alloy tinnie with trailer and all.
“It’s not much but it’s yours if you know where she is.” He then addressed a message to Bishop, “And please homie if you see this please just contact one of us and let us know you’re ok.”
The property where Bishop lived and the vehicle thought to have been used to take her to the airport have been declared crime scenes
Bishop’s other flatmate, 33-year-old Tanika Bromley, was arrested on Saturday (May 24) after police found different weapons at her Gin Gin home and inside the grey Hyundai ix35 where Bishop was reportedly taken to the airport.
Both the vehicle and residence had previously been declared crime scenes, as per News.com.au.
Bromley has been charged with multiple weapon-related offenses unrelated to the Bishop investigation, including two counts of unauthorized possession of explosives, one count of possessing or acquiring restricted items, and one count of unlawful possession of weapons.
Wood reportedly attended court to support her.
In a statement released on Monday (May 26), the Queensland Police Service revealed that it had seized several items they believe are connected to the missing teen.
Police did not specify what the items were or where they were recovered but said they are now undergoing forensic examination.
Authorities have reportedly expanded the search zone to the greater Good Night Scrub National Park—a national park that’s an hour drive from the airport—and Gin Gin areas. They began using specially trained dogs after an investigation suggested evidence may have been moved.
Police are treating the teenager’s disappearance as suspicious
According to the Daily Mail, police have found and removed four lifeless dogs from the Gin Gin home. One neighbor told the outlet that she believed as many as 13 of the animals had been discovered.
A supermarket worker who saw Bishop several times before she vanished described her as “looking worse for wear with no money” and added, “I’ve seen her parents but had no idea she belonged to them until after. She didn’t look like she belonged to anyone.”
Shari Loughland, Wood and Bromley’s neighbor, claimed that Bishop had been living at the house “for a few weeks, up to a month or two.”
When asked how she was doing, the 17-year-old told one of her friends via text message that she had “been better” but chose to “focus on the good sh*t.”
“I take off to WA in three days! Get out of this s*** home for a bit so that will be good, just packing atm (at the moment),” she texted, adding that she was planning to be gone for ten days.
Kylie Johnson, Bishop’s mother, shared on social media that the family has been living in a “cyclone of uncertainty” since Bishop vanished more than a week ago.
She said Bishop’s younger brother has been asking why she isn’t returning his calls, noting that such behavior is unusual for her.
“As we enter day 11 of Pheobe still not being home, our numbness to our tears, to our hearts breaking and this hell is heavy,” Johnson wrote on Monday.
“Not knowing what to say, what to do or even how to continue to live in this cyclone of uncertainty.
“The tears come, the anger and frustrations come and most of all our hearts are shattering more and more each day.”
In one of the texts, Wood wrote, “I was one of the last people to see her alive cops basically asked me if I did her in”
Police are urging anyone with information to contact Crime Stoppers, including any movement in the Good Night Scrub area on May 15, particularly in the Mingo Rd and Gayndah Rd areas.
Bishop is described as about 180cm tall, with a pale complexion, long, dyed red hair, and hazel eyes. She was last seen carrying luggage, wearing a green tank top and grey sweatpants.
As the investigation continues, many people suspect the couple is involved
